Street traffic regulating system



Sept. 29, 1931. A. J. RAY ET AL 1.825.284

STREET TRAFFIC REGULATING SYSTEM Filed May 28, 1925 Inuenl 0175 Y HfihurJ Ea and Clarenbe EnLumax Patented 5.....- 29. 1931 UNITED STATES LOMAX,OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS, BY

ARTHUR .T. RAY AND CLARENCE E.

PATENT OFFIC MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC INC., OF CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWABE "STREET TRAFFIC REGULATIN SYSTEM Applicationfiled May 28,

This invention relates in general to street trafiic control systems,more particularly to such systems in which several regulating stationsare automatically operated from one 3 common control station.-

One of the objects of our invention is to provide a new and improvedtraffic control system in which a number'of trafiic regulating stationsare operated over a pair of telephone or telegraph cable conductors,leading out from a. central control station.

A further object of our invention is to provide a tratfic control systemthat will be certain in its operation and inexpensive to install andmaintain.

A furtherobject of our invention to provide circuit means so that anytrafiic regulator can be cut off from the central control station,without effecting theother regulators on the circuit, and operatedmanually by the patrolman.

A further object of the invention is to provide a central controlstation timing mechanism which is arranged to quickly change "the timeinterval allowed to a traffic route.

the invention is to pro- A further object of vide a means whereby theentire control.circuit may be rendered inoperative during intervals whenthe tralfic is so light as to need no regulation. The drawings,comprising Figs. 1 and 2, show our invention in two forms.

Referring 0 Fig. 1, the t regulator TR, which' may be any well lmowntrafric tower or signal post incommon usage at street intersections, isarranged in accordance with the objects of this invention to becontrolled over the cable conductors 37 and 38 from the central controlstation CS, in accordance with the cam setting of the program .clock PC.The traflic comprises the usual three lamps, an amber colored lamp todenote achange in trafilc, a red lamp to denote stop, and a green lampto denote go ahead. The regulatorTR, one of a plurality of regulatorsattached to the cablepairs 37 and 38, is directly controlled by means ofthe polarized main switch is closed. At the control station the programclock, which may be any of by the cams 32 have two relays, such as 4many localities would be suitable to regulator TR relay 1, when the1925. semi No. 33,320.

the well known relays 4 and 5 by means of circuits completed and 33. Inpractice, one cir-. cuit would probably contain as many trafiicregulators as are needed to regulate the traffic on one thoroughfare.This clock may have other cams, not shown in Fig. 1, attached to theshaft to control other circuits as required to control trafiic onstreets the main thoroughfare. staggered with respect manner best suitedto conditions encountered.

These cams can be to 32 and 33 in the the particular trafiic Eachcircuit will and 5,'and the associated cam springs individual to it. I

Referring to Fig. 2, there is shown a modification of our invention inwhich the traffic regulator is essentially the same as before, but theprogram clock at the control station has been'replaced by the timingmechanism TM. Single stroke gongs 58 and 59 have been added. to thetraffic regulator TR and arranged to ring once when the traffic changes,thereby giving an audible signal as well as a visual signal to denotethe change. Other changes in the modifications of Fig. 1, which areshown in Fig.2, will be pointed out in connection with the detaileddescription which follows hereinafter.

In the drawings we have shown a plurality of batteries to indicate asource of ourrent. In Fig. 1 the source of current at the trafficregulator TR and at the control station CS should be direct current. Thecommercial 110 volt direct current available in operate this arrangementof our invention. The modification shown in Fig. 2 requires that directcurrent be available tion CS, while thesource of current availabletoxthe traflic regulator TR may be either direct or alternating current.7 Having thus described' our invention in general, we will now proceedwith the detailed description of its operation. In Fig. 1, with the cams32 and 33 in the position shown the circuits for control and thepolarized relay 1 is in its normal position. A circuit may be tracedfrom ground through spring 20 and its break contact,

program clocks, controls the crossing at the control sta-,

relays 4 and 5 are open,

A through the signal lamp 35, through spring the cams 32 and 33 in thedirection shown by the arrow, and after an interval operates the spring29, closing a circuit from ground through spring 29 through the windingof relay 5 to grounded battery. Relay 5 energizes and closes a circuittraceable from ground through spring 27, over conductor 38, through cuitis closedfrom ground through switch30,

through signal lamp the winding of relay 1 and other similar rethroughconductor 37,

lays in parallel,

to grounded battery. The

through spring 26 current flowing over the control circuits 37 and 38 isin such a direction as'to operaterelay 1 to close springs 22. Thetrafiic tower TR bein under the control of the control station S willhave its individual switch 30 closed so that when relay 1 operates, acirthrough springs 22, through the winding of relay 2 to grounded batterRelay 2 energizes over this circuit and reaks the circuit for the signallamp 35 which was closed through spring 20 and its break contact, and atthe same time closes acircult from ground through spring 20 and its makecontact, 34, to grounded battegy. Signal lamp 34, being red, denotes tra c must stop. The program clock PC continues to advance the cams andafter an interval opens the spring 29, thereby interrupting the circuitof relay 5 which falls back and opens the circuit of relay 1. Relay 1restores and opens the circuit of relay 2 which on falling backextinguishes the red signal lamp 34 and again lights the amber light 35to denote a trafiic change. The cams 32 and 33 continue to advance andafter an interval close the cam spring 28, completing a circuit fromground, through spring 28, through the winding of relay 4 to groundedbattery.- Relay 4 energizes and closes a circuit traceable from groundthrough spring 25, over'conductor 37, through the relay 1 and othersimilar relays, 38, through spring24 to grounded battery. It will benoted that the direction of current flowin the conductors 37 and 38 isnow in the reverse direction to what it was when the circuit was closedby the relay 5. The polarized relay 1 responds to this current to closethe spring contacts 23, thereby closing a'circuit from ground, throughthe switch 30, through springs 23, through the I 2 winding of relay 3 togrounded battery. Re-

lay 3 energizes and at spring 21 opens the previously described circuitof the signal lamp 35and closes the circuit of signal lamp 36 which istraceable from ground, through the lamp 36, through the make contact ofspring 21, to grounded battery.- The lamp.

as long as the right,

may now procee The above cycle of operations will continue the switch 30of the traflic regulator remains closed. In the event that'trafiicconditions become such that the patrolmanv deems it. necessary tomanually operatethe .trafiic regulator he may segregate it from thecentrol control station by opening the main switch 30. This disconnectsthe ground supply to thesprings 22 and 23 of the poralized relay 1, butdoes not in anyway effect the operation of the polar relay, nor does iteffect the operation of the polar relays of any other traflic regulatorswhich are on the same circuit 37 and 38. When the patrolman opens theswitch 30 both relavsi2 and 3 are held in normal position. and the amberlight 35 is lighted continuously, notifying the traflic to approach thecrossing with caution. The patrolman may then manually direct 'thetraflic'as he sees fit, or he may manually control the traflic regulatorby manipulation of the. switch 31. ss'uming that he wants to stoptraflic, he will throw the switch 31 to closin a circuit. from groundthrough the switc 31, through the winding of relay '2, to groundedbattery, energizing the relay 2 to bringup the red light, ashereinbefore described. When he desires to change the trafiic he merelyopensthe switch 31, causing the red light to extin uish and the amberlight to light again. en. the patrolman desires to send traflic ahead hecloses the switch 31 to the left, closing a circuit for the relay 3, wich operates, as hereinbefore described, to. extinguish the amber lightand light the green light 36, sending the traflic on.

' The length of time that trafiic moving in either direction is alloweddepends-upon the rate at which the'cams 32 and 33 are rotated,

- as well as upon'the shape of the cams themselves. The shaftiof theprogram clock may be provided with other similar cams to con-.

trol other streams of traflic over a circuit- 1 similar to that shown inFig. 1.

Referring now to the modification shown in b a timing mec anism which isdriven y the timing interru ter 11. When the traflic reg: ulators are tocontrolled from the central control station the key 44 is in normalposition as shown in Fig. 2, and the circuit is closed from ground tothe right hand break contact of the key-44, through the winding of Fig.2, the pro am clock has beenrepJIaced interrupter '11, through theresistance 11',

to grounded battery. Relay 11 energizes and attracts its armature to theleft, closing the contacts 54' which short out the winding of .the relayby the obvious circuit. The relay then deenergizes and, as the armaturereturns, closes the contacts 54, closing a circuit from ground at springof key 44, contact54 to the winding of motor magnet 10, to grounded forthe red battery. Motor magnet 10 energizes and prepares its armature, toadvance the wipers 55 and 56. The switch mechanism TM is of the wellknown rotary switch type such as that shown on page 57, of the thirdedition of Automatic Telephone Practice, by Harry- E.

Hershey. The wipers of this .switch are adva-nced when the drivingmagnet releases a d the armature returns to normal rather than when thearmature is operated to theener- 'gized position. The interrupter 11periodiand closes a circuit from. ground throughv spring 47, overconductor 64, through the contacts of key 44, through the windingofpolarr ized relay '6 of the traffic regulator TR, through the springsof key- 45, over conductor 63, to make contact of spring 46, to groundedbattery. .r Relay 6 r'esponds to the current flowing in the abovecircuit and closes the spring signal lamp 60 which is traceable fromground, through springs of key 42, through spring 40, through the signallamp, to grounded battery, with a multiple branch through the gong 58 togrounded battery. The red light is lighted and the gong58 sounds onceto'give an audible and visual invdication of the traffic regulation.When the contact, through to the'next step, relay 7 and including thewiper is broken,

motor magnet advances the circuit just traced for the allowing thatrelay to restore and to remove the potential from the conductors 68 and64. Relay 6 restores and breaks the previously established connectionfor the signal lamp and, at the same time, closes a connection for theamber signal. lamp 61 which is traceable from ground through spring 42,throu h spring 40-and its break contact, through t e lam-p 61, throughspring 41 and its break contact, through spring 43, to grounded battery.The amberlight is lighted to denote that a traflic change is abouttotake place. The wipers 55 and 56 continue to advance-until the wiper 55encounters the bank contact a, 'at which time a circuit for relay 8 isclosed from ground through spring 52 and its break associated bankcontact, through the wind-v spring .49,

ing-of relay. 8, to grounded negative battery. Relay 8 energizes overthiscircuit and closes a circuit traceable from ground, through overconductor63, through the springs of key 45, through the Winding of relay6, through the springs of key 44, over conductor 64, throughspring 50'togrounded battery. The current flow through the .thg green lig groundedbatte y,

in traffic.- .while the wiper When the bank contact 6 is 40, therebyestablishing a circuit spring 52, and its wiper 55 now in engagementwith bank con- I and through the relay 9 to lgrounded battery. Re-

the wipers 55 and 56' tery.

wiper 55 and the ,fourth:

windings of relay 6-be'ing in the opposite direction, the rela energizesand closes the springs 41, there y breaking the circuit for the amber 1iht 61'and closing the circuit for t 62, which may be traced from throughspring 43 and its break contact, through spring 41 and its make contact,through the signal light 62 to ground,

witha multiple branch through the gong 59 to ground. The green light 62is lighted andthe gong 59 sou ili pled once to designate the change 55is passing from bank contacts a to 5. passed the circuit for relay 8 isopened by wiper 55 and that relay restores,-restoring relay 6 whichextinguishes the green light, and again lights .the amber light over thecircuitf hereinbefore traced.

I sothat the intervals of red and green lights set forth by the timingwiper 550i the timing mechanism TM, become inadequate and it is desiredto lengthen one interval and to shorten the other, the attendant at theconthe contacts 57 and 57 the'reby changing the timing interval. gOperation of the push but-ton closes a circuit to the relay!) when wiper55 reaches the bank contact j, over a circuit traceable break contact,through tact 7', through spring 57 winding of lay 9 thenenergizes andbreaksthe above traced circuit at spring 52 and its breakcontact, butestablishes a holding circuit for itself from ground, through spring 57,through spring'53 and its green light remains lighted at any time,traific conditions become makecontact, and A .trol station operates apush-button to close from ground, through.

through its own winding to grounded bathe energization of relay 9disconnects the ground from wiper 55 and connects it to the wiper 56 sothat the relay 8 will be energized when the with contacts 6 to energizedwhen the with contacts g to 71,. this means the change in the timinginterval can be readily made. Furthermore, that change will not takeplace until both the red and full time of the interval then in use, thatis, the change takes place during the time that the amber lightislighted. When the push button holdingsprings 57' and 57, is releasedto'return the operation again to the-locking circuit of relay 9 isinterrupted;

wiper is 1n engagement However, to insure that the change of the timinginterval will not take both redand green lights have place until burneddurwiper 56 is in engagement ,and the relay 7 will be It will be seenthat by.

wiper 55,

izo

i'ng their full time of use, the springs 48 and 51 are provided so thatif either-relay 7' or i 8 is energized, relay 9 will held up from groundon these contacts until wiper 56 the polarized relays,

the circuit through the amber lights system.

If, for any reason, the patrolman desires to manually control thetrafiic at a given intersection rather than to haveit controlled fromthe common control station, he may isolate that particular trafiicregulator by operating the key 45, without efiecting the otherregulators on the circuit. The patrolman may then leave the amber lightlighted steadily and control the traflic manually, or-he may manuallycontrol the trafiic regulator by operating key 42 to extinguish theamber light and light the red light, key 42 to relight the amber lightand extinguish the red light and then operate key 43 to again extinguishthe amber light and light lighted throughout the the green light.

I many From the above description it is evidentthat we have invented anew and useful traffic regulating'system, two modifications of which areshown and explained. There are modifications and improvements which willbe evident to those skilled in the art, and while we have chosen to showour invention with a particular arrangement of equipment we do not wishto be limited to the specific disclosure herein.

-- therewith, a

" What'we consider new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent ispointed out in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: 1

1. In a device for transmitting alternate olarities of current,conductors associated movable switch including a wiper and a set of bankcontacts associated therewith, means for advancing said wiper over saidbank contacts at a predetermined rate of speed, and means responsive tothe advancement of said wiper over one portion of said bank contacts forconnecting a certain polaritygof current to said conductors, and means''jifi sponsive to the advancement of said wiper over another portion ofsaid contacts for connecting the opposite polarity to said conductors.

2. In a-device for transmitting alternate polarities of current,conductors, associated progressively'movable switch including a wiperand a set of bank contacts associated therewith, means for advancingsaid wiper over said bank contacts ata pre- 4 determined rate of speed,means responsive to the advancement of said wiper over one portion ofsaid bank contacts for connecting a such as 6, and also opens; theinterrupter relay 11, thereby bringing the equipment to rest with,

restore the 'my name this 7th day for a predetermined time, and'm'eansresponsive to the further advancement of said wiper over another portionof said bank contacts for connecting the opposite polarity to said conductors for the same time or a difierent period of time. J

3. In a device for transmitting alternate polarities of current,conductors associated therewith, a pro ressively movable switchincluding a pair 0 wipers and a set of bank contacts associated witheach'wiper, means for advancing said wipers over" said bank contacts ata redetermined rate of speed, only one of sai wi rs normally effective,means responsive to t e advancement of said efiective wiper over oneportion of its associated bank contacts for connecting a certainpolarity of current to said conductors for a predetermined period oftime and responsive to the advancement of said wiper over anotherportion of said bank contacts for connecting the opposite polarity tosaidconductors for the 'same or a different period of time, means fordisconnecting said normally effective wiper and rendering said otherwiper efiectlve, said second means responsive to the advancement of saidother wiper over its associated bank contacts for connecting saidpolarities-oj current to said conductorsfor different predeterminedperiods of time.

4. In a device for transmitting alternate polarities of current,conductors associated therewith, a progressively movable step-bystepswitching mechanism having two separate banks of contacts with a wiperfor each set and each bank of contacts divided into two sets of multiplyconnected contacts, only one of said wipers normally efiective, meansfor operating said switch to move saideffectlve wiper over itsassociated two sets of multiple contacts to connect first one polarityand thenthe reverse polarity of current to said conductors for adefinite time interval'in conductors in the same definite order but fordifierent time intervals than said first wiper.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe of May, A. D. 1925. ARTHUR J.RAY. In" witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 22d day ofMay, A. D. 1925. Y "CLARENCE E. LOMAX.

